Emancipation of Seychelles culture with the Patrick Victor Cultural Foundation

The popular and highly-respected Seychelles artist, Patrick Victor, last Friday, July 15, launched the “Patrick Victor Cultural Foundation” in the presence of government ministers, the Seychelles PS for Culture, CEO of the National Arts Council (NAC), CEO of the Heritage Foundation, CEO of the Tourism Board, and people who have been remarkable in promoting the Seychelles culture, as well as other artists, friends, and members of the public.

The Patrick Victor Cultural Foundation is a non-governmental organization aimed at promoting arts as well as intellectual and cultural endeavors in Seychelles. The chairperson of the new foundation, Mr. Emmanuel D’Offay, said as he presented the organization that “it will initiate and support cultural exchange and creative expression across Seychelles and promote all art forms and act as a platform for all artists to have a voice in the cultural development of the Seychellois nation.”

On his part, Mr. Patrick Victor, the Patron of the Foundation, said that the new foundation regroups a lot of people, not necessarily artists only. “The foundation concerns itself with our culture and where it is heading. We have a lot of social ills, and we who are affiliated with the foundation share its philosophy, believe all these ills occur because we have neglected or have completely abandoned our culture,” said Mr. Patrick Victor, the Patron of the Foundation. Mr. Victor went on to say that the Seychelles culture is being diluted with lots of things that affect the island’s normal lives. He said that if “we practiced our culture in our everyday life, things would have been much brighter in various ways.” Mr. Patrick Victor also used his address to highlight the good intentions of local artists to contribute towards the emancipation of the island’s culture, to cure the nation of social ills caused by lack of culture, and also to share the same philosophy, he said.

In his address at the launch of the Patrick Victor Cultural Foundation, Minister Alain St.Ange, the Seychelles Minister responsible for Tourism and Culture, described the launch of the foundations as a very good initiative, a good public-private sector partnership, and another platform to emancipate and reeve local culture. Minister St.Ange also said that there is now a need to re-look at CDs, licensing studios, the level of music that is created and played on the radios and television, to re-raise their levels. Minister St.Ange added that the Department of Culture in his ministry had attempted for the first time ever to send Seychelles musicians to MIDEM in France, the biggest grouping of serious actors in the world of music. This, the minister said, was to help the artists of Seychelles to gain international recognition. “But we can only continue to deal with serious musicians. Those committed to raise the profile of Seychelles music and in so doing, the profile of our country,” Minister St.Ange said as he expressed his ministry’s willingness to work with the Patrick Victor Cultural Foundation to give the music world of Seychelles and the artists a higher level of recognition and to help the nation’s music to find its place in society and help Seychelles protect what belongs there.

The launch of the foundation was also an occasion for the Patrick Victor Cultural Foundation to honor individuals, from the highest level down, for their remarkable contribution towards the Seychelles culture. They included Ministers Alain St.Ange along with Macsuzy Mondon, Norville Ernesta, Peter Pierre-Louis, Marie Therese Choppy, Dana of former Stillwaters Band, Anne Marie Collet, Jessie Freminot, Bernard Georges, Jeannette Zialor, and Antoinette Savy.

The launch ceremony was animated by a classical music trio consisting of a Seychellois guitarist, Italian violinist, and Antoine Azemia on the piano.